So last weekend I had a rather unfortunate experience. My tablet, which I bring everywhere with me, met its demise to a tile floor and a case design error. Now, most people don't have a tablet, they have a smartphone or a laptop. I find smartphones' screens too small, and I haven't had the money to spare for a laptop. I bought this tablet initially for my now-deceased chainmail business- turns out with a tablet and a little plugin, you can accept credit cards pretty much anywhere there's internet.
To help justify my purchase (which was expensive, even though it was refurbished and not the latest and greatest), I set about making my tablet into a Swiss Army Knife. I migrated my eBook library onto it and read every night. I got myself apps for both my banks, another to track my sales in business, and still another to easily store all my business' data. I installed a calendar app, several radio apps and a flashlight app. A meditation app, checklist app, food tracking app, and email apps. I customized the directions apps and set them to a cell phone's data plan so I would never be lost. I even managed to set up a Google Voice number to act as a phone, after my dumbphone died and I realized I didn't really like having one anyway.
And that's just the stuff I used regularly. I brought it everywhere, scribbling notes and doodles on it, asking the Internet any question I could think of (often hours for stores and restaurants), and reading book after book on it. For four years. It was always there, keeping me in tune with my life, providing my appointments and my music and the Internet. Until it was gone. The case I'd bought to shield it from damage didn't have any protection from falling screen-first on tile floor.
The screen was completely shattered. I took it to the maker's store, and they basically told me: "Yeah, that's so old we can't help you." In addition, the design of the tablet was such that it really wasn't a DIY repair. And the folks that could repair it, would charge about half the tablet's original cost. If not more. Not really feasible.
At the time of the break, after the initial crying fit, I really just felt numb. But I also had to try not to cry, because I was in a public place and while some people might understand crying over a broken tablet, most, I suspect, wouldn't. But it was rather like I'd just lost an arm, or had part of my brain removed. I no longer had my library, my calendar, my phone numbers, my directions, my music, and all the rest. Major parts of my life were suddenly inaccessible, and without them I was lost.
To his credit, Chris (my boyfriend) understood immediately. I'm actually stealing his broken arm comparison for this entry. Other people, I feel, would have said something along the lines of, "oh, that's too bad. Do you really need another one?" Chris started talking about getting it fixed or replaced, immediately. When most of the shock wore off, I asked him about that. He remarked that it was obvious to him. I read off it every night. I brought it with me everywhere. I used it multiple times a day, for all manner of things. Obviously it was important to me. And so he offered to help me replace it.
It took quite a bit of research, but eventually we got it narrowed down to two tablets: the iPad Air 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S. For philosophical reasons, I chose the Samsung tablet. (Apple does a lot of things well, but their philosophy does not promote tech-savviness. I think having the ability to tweak important parts of your electronics is essential to that.) With work stretching my hours for all they're worth, I'll be able to afford the replacement in a few weeks' time. But we got it as soon as possible, because I fortunately do not live paycheck to paycheck.
Now comes the rehabilitation. Because my previous tablet was so old and from a different maker, I have to manually migrate the music and books. It's a lengthy process. The music alone is taking days. The books... I have yet to find a good reading app. And while most of my apps were available for download on the new tablet, some important ones weren't. So now I need to find replacements. All in addition to learning to use the new interface.
I'm very fortunate that I can replace my tablet at all, of course. I would probably be able to learn to live without all that, but with my memory not being as good as it used to be pre-LENS, I suspect my relationships would suffer. Along with my sanity.
To help justify my purchase (which was expensive, even though it was refurbished and not the latest and greatest), I set about making my tablet into a Swiss Army Knife. I migrated my eBook library onto it and read every night. I got myself apps for both my banks, another to track my sales in business, and still another to easily store all my business' data. I installed a calendar app, several radio apps and a flashlight app. A meditation app, checklist app, food tracking app, and email apps. I customized the directions apps and set them to a cell phone's data plan so I would never be lost. I even managed to set up a Google Voice number to act as a phone, after my dumbphone died and I realized I didn't really like having one anyway.
And that's just the stuff I used regularly. I brought it everywhere, scribbling notes and doodles on it, asking the Internet any question I could think of (often hours for stores and restaurants), and reading book after book on it. For four years. It was always there, keeping me in tune with my life, providing my appointments and my music and the Internet. Until it was gone. The case I'd bought to shield it from damage didn't have any protection from falling screen-first on tile floor.
The screen was completely shattered. I took it to the maker's store, and they basically told me: "Yeah, that's so old we can't help you." In addition, the design of the tablet was such that it really wasn't a DIY repair. And the folks that could repair it, would charge about half the tablet's original cost. If not more. Not really feasible.
At the time of the break, after the initial crying fit, I really just felt numb. But I also had to try not to cry, because I was in a public place and while some people might understand crying over a broken tablet, most, I suspect, wouldn't. But it was rather like I'd just lost an arm, or had part of my brain removed. I no longer had my library, my calendar, my phone numbers, my directions, my music, and all the rest. Major parts of my life were suddenly inaccessible, and without them I was lost.
To his credit, Chris (my boyfriend) understood immediately. I'm actually stealing his broken arm comparison for this entry. Other people, I feel, would have said something along the lines of, "oh, that's too bad. Do you really need another one?" Chris started talking about getting it fixed or replaced, immediately. When most of the shock wore off, I asked him about that. He remarked that it was obvious to him. I read off it every night. I brought it with me everywhere. I used it multiple times a day, for all manner of things. Obviously it was important to me. And so he offered to help me replace it.
It took quite a bit of research, but eventually we got it narrowed down to two tablets: the iPad Air 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S. For philosophical reasons, I chose the Samsung tablet. (Apple does a lot of things well, but their philosophy does not promote tech-savviness. I think having the ability to tweak important parts of your electronics is essential to that.) With work stretching my hours for all they're worth, I'll be able to afford the replacement in a few weeks' time. But we got it as soon as possible, because I fortunately do not live paycheck to paycheck.
Now comes the rehabilitation. Because my previous tablet was so old and from a different maker, I have to manually migrate the music and books. It's a lengthy process. The music alone is taking days. The books... I have yet to find a good reading app. And while most of my apps were available for download on the new tablet, some important ones weren't. So now I need to find replacements. All in addition to learning to use the new interface.
I'm very fortunate that I can replace my tablet at all, of course. I would probably be able to learn to live without all that, but with my memory not being as good as it used to be pre-LENS, I suspect my relationships would suffer. Along with my sanity.
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